


keeping secrets

by SalazarTipton



Series: the bloodied crown [1]
Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood Drinking, Character Study, Character Turned Into Vampire, Family Dynamics, Gen, Mind Manipulation, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:55:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29552445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalazarTipton/pseuds/SalazarTipton
Summary: Tommy left more than a part of himself in the mud back in France--he left his life and his soul.akaTommy got turned into a vampire during the war and refuses to tell his family.
Relationships: Ada Shelby & Tommy Shelby, Arthur Shelby & Tommy Shelby, John Shelby & Tommy Shelby, Polly Gray & Tommy Shelby
Series: the bloodied crown [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2177985
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	keeping secrets

“Come on, Tommy. Can’t remember the last time you sat down for a proper meal with us. You have to eat at some point,” Ada says as she dishes out their dinner, insisting he take a seat. 

“Not all of us have time to waste,” he replies, grabbing his coat on his way out. 

He minds not to slam the door behind himself. He is hungry and that’s exactly why he can’t stay for dinner with them, even if he wanted to. They can’t know what he’s become. What he _is_. His heart catches in his throat thinking of what they’d do. Would they banish him or try to drive a stake through his heart? He stuffs his hands into his pockets and stalks off into the dark streets ready to hunt his own meal. 

Tommy left more than a part of himself in the mud back in France--he left his life and his soul. 

Deep in those damned tunnels covered in grime worrying over whether a collapse or a bullet would take him he found a death he never thought possible even with the superstitions and mysticism surrounding his heritage. Because no criminal as hardened as him would fancy such a fairytale idea as vampires, now would he?

Tell that to the now-healed twin puncture in his neck and the fangs pressing into the inside of his cheeks as he follows a drunkard away from the streetlights and towards his untimely end. They’ve been out of sight for a block or so now. Tommy could finish him quickly and quietly, but the hunt always makes the taste sweeter. 

“Are you followin’ me? Who the fuck do ye think ye--oh! Mr. S-Shelby!” The man’s eyes go from hazy and mean to shock-filled. 

Tommy levels the man with his cold stare and lets his lips curl over his extended canines in a twisted version of a smile bearing them like a wild dog. 

“You should’ve kept on walking,” he offers, voice still as water. 

The man doesn’t have the chance to yell for help or piss himself in fear. His fangs sink into the flesh of his neck, forcing it to give way and flood his mouth with hot, red blood. Tommy walks him back against the soot-covered bricks of a wall to prop him up while he drinks his fill. He savors the flavor on his tongue and the rush in his veins. 

* * *

“I fuckin’ saw it, alright? I did! You got fucking shot and now you’re walkin’ about like nothing happened!”

“Arthur, what are you on about?”

“Tom, I saw you and I saw Kimber. You both pulled the fuckin’ trigger and you dropped. He just fell right there in the dirt limp and bleedin’ and then you stood the fuck up and he didn’t,” Arthur tries to whisper, but he can’t keep his voice under control enough to keep it low. “I saw you die, Tommy. Don’t tell me I didn’t. I saw you--”

Tommy cups a rough hand on the back of Arthur’s head and pulls him in to tap their foreheads together. He sees the tears building up in his big brother’s eyes, but behind that he sees the Shelby stubbornness he’s far too acquainted with. 

“I’m right here, alright? I’m right here and we beat Kimber. I’m alright--not a scratch on me.”

“But I-I saw it!”

Tommy pulls Arthur in, hugging him. 

“We won and I’m not leaving you any time soon, if I can help it. We’ve got too much bloody work to do,” Tom whispers back to him, letting a laugh bleed into it at the end--trying to get his brother to stop looking like the world just ended. 

He won’t tell him he’s wrong. Tommy doesn’t want to lie and convince his own flesh and blood that he’s off his rocker. Maybe Arthur will go get lost between some long legs and some blow. Maybe...

* * *

“If I knew you any less I’d think you have a death wish with how you go about conducting business,” Aunt Polly scoffs as she moves to wipe the blood away from his temple.

Tommy pushes her hand away and lights a cigarette. She clenches her jaw at him. 

“You don’t go to a meet without backup--without telling us where you are! What if that man did more than this, hmm? What if he wanted your head instead of your pride?”

“Poll, I know what I’m doing. I’m not a child anymore.”

“Then stop acting like one.”

She tosses the cloth at him and pulls the green doors open, walking out into the chaos of betting time. She shuts them behind her, leaving Thomas at the kitchen table caked in blood with ashes threatening to fall from the tip of his cigarette. He taps it into the ashtray and picks up the rag. He dabs it into the bowl of water she brought over and wipes at where he thinks the blood is from where he recalls it dripping on his ride home. 

He wipes the cloth directly over where he was pistol-whipped without a wince revealing underneath no wound at all. He rings the cloth out in the bowl and looks over his knuckles now clean enough to see they too are fully healed. Perhaps it’s time he takes a few days checking in with the Lees and the raceway--away from Poll and her keen eyes. 

In a few minutes, the majority of the blood is gone (just a few spots missed since he can’t be bothered to find a mirror). He stalks off to his bed, leaving the swirling pink water right there on the table for someone else to deal with. He does enough cleaning up for the family already. 

Healing like this always takes the wind out of his sails. He could go hunt, but it’s day and a full moon tonight. Too bright to get away from shadowy things. So, he lets himself drift off to sleep to replenish his strength, hoping his mind won’t turn to the dark tunnels and sharp fangs that plague his thoughts. 

* * *

There’s still a few hours until The Garrison opens and Thomas came here hoping to avoid people and get some things worked out on his own. He can hear someone working the backdoor lock and sighs, putting away his papers. John sits at the bar beside Tommy and takes his glass from him, draining it in a quick knock-back. 

“Out with it,” Tom says, not looking at his brother in favor of pulling another glass out from behind the bar and pouring himself and John another round. 

“It’s nothing. Just need to be outta the house for a little while, ya know?”

“Then you could be down at the Strong Yard or the betting shop. Now, what’s going on?”

John bites at his lip and takes a gulp of whiskey. 

“You know, it was all ‘cause of you I married her in the first place.”

 _Ah_ , Tom thinks to himself. _Of course it’s about Esme._

“What’s she on about now?”

“Could you just, I don’t know, talk to her or something? She keeps going on about gettin’ out of Birmingham, going South. Must be her blood talking. She knows we’ve got a good thing coming and I doubt she means anything by it. But every single night she’s just…”

Tom clenches his jaw and nods at his brother. “I’ll sort it out.” He stands to grab his hat. “Don’t be getting drunk. It’s still early.”

After days of trying, John finally gets Tommy alone in his office. “What did you say to Esme?”

Tommy glances up from the racing papers for a second before returning to the scores. “Hmm?”

“You did something. It’s like she’s got a whole new lease of her life with me. One second she’s nagging me and treatin’ being a Shelby like a jail sentence and now--”

“Now what, John? She isn’t talking about leaving anymore is she?”

“Well, no--”

“Then I don’t see what the problem could be. Sounds like something between a husband and wife to me.”

Tom keeps his eyes down, waiting for John to get the hint and leave. He’ll let the bone go soon enough like any easily riled dog. No need to explain how he could convince a man to blow out his own brains with the right words. No need to bring up how since France, Tommy can talk nearly anyone into doing what he needs. No need to open himself up for more questioning. 

The less the Shelbys know about his secrets the better. 

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first go at peaky blinders as a kind of way to try out their voices, so i would love to hear your thoughts! comments and kudos keep me going <3  
> if there's interest, i have more ideas for vampire!tommy (and possibly alfie/tommy)  
> i'm always down for asks/prompts over on tumblr: creaturejaskier


End file.
